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Chrome 94 beta tests some next-gen tech for gaming in your browser
Google’s Chrome Beta 94 announcement mentions that Google is implementing some new web standards that could make browser-based gaming experiences even better. The soon-to-be-released WebCodecs could help make cloud gaming easier and faster, while the experimental WebGPU could make it easier for developers of games that run in the browser to tap into your computer’s power.
WebCodecs is an API designed to give developers better access to the video encoding/decoding codecs that are already bundled with your browser, which figure out what to do with video streams. While there are already methods of getting video to play in Chrome, they’re not necessarily designed for things like cloud gaming, which is best when it’s as low-latency as possible. WebCodecs is built to avoid overhead, making it easier to get the incoming video stream onto your screen as fast as possible, potentially with the help of hardware decoding. This will also, in theory, make it perform better than it currently does on slower machines (which are the kinds of computers where cloud gaming is most desirable anyhow).
The newer, more experimental WebGPU gives web developers better access to your computer’s graphics horsepower, by letting them hook into your computer’s native graphics API (similar to Apple’s Metal, Microsoft’s DirectX 12, or Vulkan). In simpler terms, it makes it easier for web developers to talk to your graphics card in a language it understands, without having to go through other layers that could slow things down. It’s meant to be a next-generation version of WebGL, which lets developers tap into the (now reasonably out of date) OpenGL framework. In the future, the tech should make it easier for developers to make graphically intense games that run in the browser, tapping into the full power of current-generation GPUs.
Both technologies have their place outside of gaming too. In a July 2020 talk, Google mentioned that Zoom was interested in using WebCodecs for videoconferencing, and WebGPU could be used to render 3D models in the browser or to accelerate machine learning models. It makes sense that they’d show up in Chrome, as these are all areas Google plays in, from cloud gaming with Google Stadia, to its own video conferencing apps. Both pieces of tech are open standards though, developed by the W3C, and other browser makers have begun testing them as well.
Of course, we probably won’t be seeing experiences powered by WebCodecs or WebGPU for a little while. While WebCodecs is actually getting close to release (it’s expected to be turned on by default in the upcoming Chrome 94), developers will still have to make their apps work with it. As for WebGPU, it’s currently in its experimental trial phase, which Google expects to end in early 2022. Whether it’ll end up as a feature at that point depends on how the trial goes, if the specification is done, and if enough people are interested in using it.
While these technologies may not make things that were impossible possible, they’re exciting nonetheless. When things are easier, or more flexible, it lowers the barrier of entry for developers. For gamers looking to play on the web, either through streaming or native games, the time developers save on figuring out how to get frames onto your screen is time they can spend making other parts of the experience better.
Animal Crossing Sneakers And Clothing From Puma Coming In September
Puma is making a pair of Animal Crossing shoes alongside a line of clothes, and they’re not that far away. The sneakers, which feature various Animal Crossing-themed design flourishes, launch on September 18.
The shoe company posted a picture of the kicks on Twitter, showing off how the design incorporates Nintendo’s neighborhood-building game series. The main fabric of the shoe has a pattern of Animal Crossing faces on it (including K.K. Slider, of course), while the tongue has a leaf logo. The shoe’s colors also reflect the series, with pastel blues, teals, and earth colors. It’s evocative of the Animal Crossing-themed Switch, too.
Puma will also release a line of Animal Crossing-themed clothing alongside the shoes, although details have yet to be officially announced. However, the website Animal Crossing World shared an initial picture of a light-blue hoody from the collaboration that features the same faces that appear on the shoes.
We still don’t know what else will come in the collection or how much they’ll cost, but it’s certainly not a surprising collaboration: Animal Crossing: New Horizons remains one of the best-selling Switch games of all time. In addition, Nintendo continues to support it with new seasonal items and updates.
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New PS5 model’s weight-loss mystery solved: A smaller, likely better heatsink
Over the weekend, Sony’s curious new PlayStation 5 hardware revision—same price, same performance, slightly changed internals—began finding its way into fans’ hands, and at least one rushed to figure out exactly why it weighs 0.6 lb less than the launch model. The most obvious answer, at least parceled out on a measuring scale, is a smaller, wholly redesigned heatsink element, though the person behind the discovery didn’t necessarily make the right call about this PS5 revision being “worse.”
Tech reporter Austin Evans posted his findings on YouTube on Saturday, after sourcing a new Japanese PS5 and upgrading his purchase to overnight shipping (holy bank account, Batman). The resulting breakdown is informative, though not entirely authoritative. Evans and fellow YouTuber Jimmy Champane tore down both the new PS5 and a launch model in short order, noticing almost immediately that the newer heatsink takes up far less physical real estate. Before the teardown is complete, one visible heatsink portion near the system’s primary fan is reduced enough that a finger can fit in, but that’s nothing compared to the final comparison.
The launch model’s heatsink included a complete airflow-encompassing plate of copper, along with conductive metal all along the way. The updated heatsink, on the other hand, has been re-engineered to reduce both the base copper plate and the amount of metal attached to the cooling system’s heat pipes, all while leaving the heat pipe concept intact—and likely still relying on a liquid metal application on PS5’s System-on-Chip (SoC). After weighing the two consoles while fully assembled, Evans then weighed the extracted heatsink constructions, finding these accounted for nearly the entirety of the 0.6 lb difference.
Do not mod your PS5 with shag carpeting
However, Evans’ findings come with a gross misunderstanding of what the heatsink assemblies are meant to do: dissipate internal heat by any means necessary. His basic conclusion of the new console revision’s thermals comes from pointing a thermal camera at both consoles’ rear exhaust ports while testing the console’s launch game Astro’s Playroom. In doing this, Evans measures an increase in exhaust temperatures that averages out to 5° Celsius on the new revision. However, he doesn’t run the same tests with either thermal cameras or direct temperature measurements aimed at more crucial internal spots like the SoC, the motherboard-soldered DIMM modules, or the SSD storage expansion slot.
Without that data in hand, it’s unclear whether the re-engineered heatsink is getting more heat away from those crucial system elements. If that’s indeed the case, Evans’ claim that he’d prefer to own the launch PS5, with its heavier, over-engineered heatsink, doesn’t actually add up. Arguably, the new PS5 revision’s jump in average exhaust temperature is worse for anyone who might stow their console in a cramped entertainment center, at which point an abundance of copper to distribute trapped, hot air might be the only thing keeping your sweaty PS5 SoC from buckling. But if you’re trapping a PS5 in a tiny glass enclosure, surrounding it in carpet, or otherwise misunderstanding how hot an average PS5 runs, no amount of copper will keep your console in decent shape forever.
As a test of a single revised PS5, of course, Evans’ examination could turn out to be anecdotal, but it stands to reason that Sony has a vested interest in both reducing manufacturing costs per console and not cheaping its way into a Red Ring of Death scenario. Getting an extra chip-shortage year to refine and touch up the PS5’s heatsink probably meant ample time to test both the SoC’s heat envelope and new airflow opportunities. And if reducing the material weight without impacting internal heat measures—or, heck, improving them—gets more consoles onto store shelves (and, according to Sony, gets them to per-unit profitability), we’ll take it.
Sony representatives did not immediately respond to Ars Technica’s request for comment.
Listing image by Austin Evans
Covid-19 Surge in Asia Threatens Manufacture of Ceramic Bits in iPhones and PlayStations
Hidden inside the newest smartphones are more than a thousand tiny bits of ceramic to control the flow of electricity. Inside an electric vehicle, there are more than 10,000.
They are called MLCCs, for multilayer ceramic capacitors, and the surge of Covid-19 infections across East Asia is raising the risk that factories won’t be able to make enough of them.
Murata Manufacturing Co. of Kyoto, Japan, the biggest MLCC maker, closed a major factory for the final week of August because of a virus outbreak. Japan’s Taiyo Yuden Co. , another major maker, said in August that it suspended some operations at its factory in Malaysia because of employee infections.
“MLCC supply will remain very tight,” said Forrest Chen, an analyst at Taiwan-based research firm TrendForce.
The world has seen this year how a shortage of normally little-noticed components can hit the global supply chain. Global makers of cars and electronics have shut down factory lines and missed potential sales because they don’t have enough semiconductors.
GoPro’s next flagship action camera leaks
Images and specs of the GoPro Hero 10 Black have apparently leaked in full. According to WinFuture, which accurately leaked the redesigned Hero 9 Black at this same time last year, the new flagship GoPro action camera will look pretty much the same as last year’s miniature cam only with a more powerful GP2 processor of GoPro design inside for improved overall performance.
The new GP2 processor is expected to provide a major boost in performance with support for 5.3K videos shot at a smooth 60fps, or 4K video recorded at 120fps which is useful for slo-mo. That’s an improvement from 5K30 and 4K60 on last year’s flagship. The Hero 10 Black can also record at 2.7K and 240fps for even more motion control but at reduced resolution. There’s also a new image sensor that bumps photo resolution from 20 megapixels to 23 megapixels, according to marketing materials and packaging seen by WinFuture.
GoPro’s excellent in-camera software stabilization is also seeing an update to HyperSmooth 4.0 and TimeWarp 3.0 for time-lapse videos. Features like a watertight housing up to a depth of 10 meters, touch and voice control, and front and rear displays carry over from last year.
Ther’s no pricing or release information yet (the Hero 9 Black currently costs $399.99 without a subscription), but if history holds then an announcement should be coming within the next few weeks. Check out WinFuture for even more pics until then.
Apple Watch Series 7 reportedly has flat sides and bigger screens
The upcoming Apple Watch will feature its first new hardware design in years, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter. Gurman says the Apple Watch Series 7 will have “a flatter display and edges,” seemingly continuing Apple’s quest to flatten the sides of every product in its lineup.
The display is said to be slightly larger than the current panels found in the Series 6, and the cases’ sizes will also be a little bigger than before, with each model getting a 1mm bump to 41mm and 45mm. Unverified leaked images last week suggested the same 41mm and 45mm sizing. Gurman says Apple will include multiple new watch faces to make the most of the extra screen real estate.
Physical appearance aside, the Series 7 will also have a faster processor, according to Gurman. However, there reportedly won’t be any major health-focused upgrades this year, though Apple “may” include a body-temperature sensor in next year’s model.
An updated design for the Series 7 would continue an every-three-years cadence for major Apple Watch hardware refreshes. The first and last time Apple changed the case design of the Apple Watch was the Series 4; that basic appearance has remained unchanged through the Series 6, save the introduction of new materials and finishes.
Apple usually announces new watches in September, so a reveal for the Series 7 may not be far off. Last year the Series 6 and SE watches were a headline announcement at Apple’s September event, since the iPhone 12 unveiling was pushed back to October.
The New PS5 Has A Much Smaller Heatsink
When a new model of the PS5 was quietly released recently, people talked about a new screw, and how it might have better wi-fi. One thing that wasn’t known until now is that the console’s mini-refresh has a much smaller heatsink, and that a video filmed comparing it to the existing model shows it running at higher temperatures.
YouTuber Austin Evans got hold of one of these new consoles from Japan recently, and in tearing it apart found that when you open the things up it’s pretty clear right away that the changes between models are more dramatic than a new screw.
The first thing he found was, OK, that new screw used to attach the PS5 to its base is good. But it doesn’t take long before he notices that while running the same game at the same time the new console’s fans sound different than the launch model, suspecting this was down to a difference in cooling systems, which was sorta correct!
Testing the console’s temperature externally, he found that the newer model was consistently running at 3-5 degrees celcius hotter than than the original, that it was drawing a few more watts while in operation and was oh so slightly quieter, though those latter two values were by fairly insignificant margins.
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It’s opening the new PS5 up that we can really see where Sony has made changes between the launch model and this one, which is currently only on sale in Japan and Australia. This new console is around 300g lighter, and comes at a time when Sony announced earlier this month that the PS5 was “no longer selling at a loss”, and it looks like both those things might be related when you take a look at their heatsinks.
Look at that! The original model had a much larger heatsink, plus a large copper backing plate, while the new version has a lot less. To at least partially compensate for this, Sony has included a new fan design in the console, one that has much larger blades:
In response to his findings, a few people have questioned Evans’ capture of external temperatures, to which he replied:
Couple people mentioning higher exhaust temps COULD mean the cooler is doing a better job dissipating heat. The thing is, Sony removed a SIZABLE amount of the heatsink on this new model. With fewer fins and smaller heatpipes it simply isn’t as efficient at moving the heat out of the console.
Think about it as if it were a PC. If I remove a large CPU heatsink in favor of a smaller one the exhaust coming off my system would be hotter as the overall system temps are higher since the weaker cooler can’t cope. That’s exactly what’s going on here IMO.
It’s also important to note that this isn’t a case of comparing two radically different consoles. Was this an all-new revision of the PS5, then it could be argued that a smaller heatsink could just be a result of new and improved chips and technology elsewhere in the console. But this isn’t an all-new revision, almost everything else is the same PS5 as we’ve had since last year, only now with less cooling.
Now, some context: none of this is terrible news. Consoles are revised constantly throughout their lifespans, sometimes with major new models, other times with minor tweaks like this, and every single time this happens corners are cut, not just to keep costs down but also to adjust things based on months and years of findings. And a console running three degrees hotter doesn’t mean it’s going to suddenly melt into a puddle of white plastic on your entertainment unit.
But if these findings are consistent across games and for long periods of time, a potential temperature increase on a PlayStation console isn’t something we should just shrug off, either. As they note in the video, this is something Sony have struggled with for years; I had two PS3 consoles overheat, and myPS4’s heat + fan noise problems got so bad towards the end that I simply stopped playing the thing, so seeing Sony cutting corners on temperature control so early in the console’s lifespan, when we haven’t seen the real effects of longterm use yet, isn’t great.
In the meantime, one of the other things people were wondering about with this revision was whether the console’s shoddy wi-fi had been improved, and while Evans couldn’t confirm this with a proper wi-fi test, he did note that the new PS5’s wi-fi module did have different cabling and cable colours.
You can watch the full video below:
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Adding New Pokemon Type
A lot has changed since Pokemon Diamond and Pearl first released in 2006, including the addition of Fairy-type Pokemon. There are still a lot of questions about Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but we now know that Fairy-type Pokemon will be represented in the remake when it releases this fall! The discovery was made by @eclipse_tt on Twitter, who shared an image showing that the move “Charm” will be Fairy-type in the game (in the original Diamond and Pearl, it was Normal-type). Notably, two Pokemon that first appeared in Sinnoh have retroactively been made Fairy-types: Togekiss and Mime Jr. Presumably, this means that change will also be preserved in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
The original Tweet from @eclipse_tt can be found embedded below.
UPDATE BDSP
✨ Fairy-Type confirmed if you are still wondering!@eclipse_tt pic.twitter.com/4d5NVSODBX
— Eclipse 🌑 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝐤𝖗𝖆𝖎 𝖀𝖒𝖇𝖗𝖆! (@eclipse_tt) August 22, 2021
Most Pokemon fans probably won’t be too surprised to find out that these altered Pokemon types will be incorporated in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Typically, Pokemon remakes have incorporated these types of changes, rather than switching back. When Pokemon: Let’s Go released on Nintendo Switch in 2018, the Gen I remake similarly kept Clefairy and Jigglypuff’s Fairy-type designations, despite the fact that Fairy-type Pokemon were not added until Pokemon X and Y.
It will be interesting to see if the addition of Fairy-type Pokemon leads to new Sinnoh region strategies! Fairy-type Pokemon have an advantage over Dragon-types, but there aren’t any Dragon-type gyms in Sinnoh. However, a strong Togekiss or Mr. Mime could be helpful against the Pokemon League Champion Cynthia and her Garchomp.
Fans still have a few months to think about their team and how they want to play, however! Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch on November 19th. In the meantime, you can check out our previous coverage of the game right here.
Are you happy that Fairy-type Pokemon will appear in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl? Will this have an impact on your strategy in the game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
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